Premature Metamorphosis

Chapter 6

Eventually, summer break came to an end and it was time for back-to-school season. Evelyn was actually a little sad about that. She wouldn't get to see her son as much and it was a big jump going from having him constantly clung to her to him being out of the house for six hours every weekday. At least with the school, she knew she'd be sending him somewhere he'd be safe without her unlike how she'd felt sending him to a certain other place.

Wow, maybe it was actually her with the separation anxiety.

Moving up another year in school and having to go into a brand new class was a pretty big change for a kid and as she'd been made wildly aware, Hunter hated change and she had not been looking forward to the meltdowns that this would inevitably cause. He'd already been reluctant to leave her side so the odds were not looking very good.

She'd talked over it multiple times with him to make sure he knew what was happening but after that, the most she could do was cross her fingers and pray that things went smoothly.

On the morning of the first day back at school, he got up and out of bed with minimal complaints so she took that as a good sign and just hoped she wouldn't be jinxing it.

"You excited to see your friends again?" She asked, digging out the uniform Caleb had had to wash and iron last minute the previous night when they suddenly remembered that he needed a clean uniform.

"Mhm, I'm going to tell Luz all about that snake book I got." He beamed, handing her a shirt that had been hung on the closet door.

Evelyn usually helped him get dressed for school. He still struggled with the little buttons on the shirt so Evelyn tended to help him out so he didn't spend half the morning frustrating himself over them.

"Maybe you could invite Luz over to show her at some point?" Evelyn suggested. Maybe having a friend around would help brighten his mood.

"Mhm." He hummed, letting out a small yawn and rubbing at his eyes. He looked pretty exhausted in all honesty. Those eyebags still hadn't completely faded and it was no wonder: he'd been barely sleeping as of late, jolting awake several times a night to what appeared to be nightmares.

"Luz says her mom is really really busy. Did you know she looks after animals! Luz says her mom got to put a bandaid on a lion!"

The chances of Camila Noceda having worked with a lion were very low and Evelyn thought it more likely her daughter had made that idea up herself but she still nodded along.

"That's why Auntie Eda is always looking after her," He continued, "'Cause her mom is looking after all the animals. She's like an animal superhero."

"An animal superhero, huh?" Evelyn chuckled. Hunter nodded emphatically. "Okay then, if you say so. Now, arms up." She instructed, holding the hem of his pyjama shirt between thumb and forefinger.

She noticed his demeanour change instantly. The cheerfulness and chattiness were gone as his face fell and he froze.

She was just about to question what was wrong, try to pick apart what cryptic thing had caused him to act so strangely this time, but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off by holding his arms up, trying to make it seem as casual as possible.

Not wanting to freak him out or make him cry before school had even started and deciding to address this later, hopefully, with Caleb as backup, she brushed it off with a faulty smile and pulled the pyjamas shirt off, tossing it on the chair to deal with later. She then unfolded the school shirt he'd handed her before and hooked it over both of his arms before beginning to button it up.